3D model
Aurumora takes its name from the merged two components: the remora and gold. Remora in Latin means delay, and the word gold in Latin is aurum. As its name suggests, Aurumora amasses gold onto its body; thus, the name "gold delayer" would be fitting. Both models are modeled after their real-world counterparts through images and procedural generation. The concept for Aurumora was to go against the initial ideas that come to mind when we think of merging bodies and hybrids. The organic world takes over the inorganic by its longevity or the technologizing of organisms, making it a usual cyborg. In addition, I was interested in the idea of a hybrid in a symbiotic relationship, not a replacement or takeover of the host.
January 2024
Process
Aurumora was done through geometry nodes and sculpting to try to be as realistic as possible. The remora was blocked out from reference images and then sculpted to get the imperfection of the real world. The gold ores are cubes modified by a procedurally generated texture. There are two reasons that ores are more procedural. The first is the inorganic world, especially solid elements, are easily predictable and thus easy to generate using computers. They have "rules" to obey and physics. Furthermore, a personal and project reason that Aurumora's gold was done through geometry nodes was for the purpose of studying this kind of procedural generation.
Concept
In contrast to Donna Haraway's text, A Cyborg Manifesto, Aurumora does not adhere to the posthuman idea and the rise in technology. Instead, it is an alternate view in which machinery has reached its limit, and the world becomes the focus. It directs attention back to our origin and the planet we humans inhabit. Rather than organic spreading and reclaiming the world, the organic would inevitably be conquered by the inorganic and returned to the earth. This reimagined circle of life is slightly fantastic as the inorganic would have a slight organicity, or the fauna would have a mutation to turn them inorganic.
To illustrate this contrast, Auromora uses a remora as its basis and gold as the decay indicator. The remora was selected as the base since, similar to Auromora's idea, it lives by attaching itself to another animal. Additionally, the vast sea is brimming with biodiversity, perfectly representing what the world offers. The ore mutation is similar as it accumulates over time from the environment and provides some armoring to its host. This is another symbiotic relationship as both parties gain. Even with this mutation, it does not affect the behavior or lifespan of the remora. This technicality is crucial as it serves to help convey another concept. This concept concerns the choice of gold as the mineral representing the inorganic. Gold is a rare, occurring mineral on earth and is used in modern-day as jewelry, technology, electricity, etc. Aurumora is designed in every way to connect Donna Harraway's humans. A symbiotic animal that benefits by staying within its boundary. The inorganic parts are gold, specifically used in computers and technology, and malleable metal with numerous applications. The precious gold is reduced to but a commonly occurring rock that is attached to a fish. The fish has no use for it whatsoever and is not hindered, compared to the modern day, where humans would have hunted Aurumora to extinction for its gold to create more electronics.